Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Username

AnWulf

Member Since

June 19, 2011

Total number of comments

616

Total number of votes received

580

Bio

Native English speaker. Conversant in German, Russian, Spanish, and Anglo-Saxon.

Ferþu Hal!

I hav a pilot's license (SEL certificate); I'm a certified diver (NAUI); I'v skydived and was qualified as a paratrooper in the Army (Airborne!); I was a soldier (MI, Armor, Engineer).

I workt for a corporation, was a law enforcement officer, and a business owner.

Bachelor's in Finance; minor in Economics
Masters of Aeronautical Sciences

Strong backer of English spelling reform.

Browncoat

Now I'v written my first novel [ http://www.lulu.com/shop/lt-wolf/the-world-king-book-i-the-reckoning/ebook/product-22015788.html ] and I'm working on others.

http://lupussolus.typad.com
http://lupussolusluna.blogspot.com
http://anwulf.blogspot.com

Latest Comments

“Anglish”

  • October 10, 2011, 5:32pm

Teld in ME also picked up the thought of "shelter" ... A temporary dwelling, tent; also, a permanent dwelling, castle, fort, hut, asf. "Under teld" was to be under someone's roof. So a teld room would have been a sheltered place for the bowmen to rest.

For the rest here, I'm just brainstorming ...

Tantrum, 1711, is too far from OE (over 600 years). If it were nearer to OE, I could make a good guess but I don't think that tantrum would have floated around for 600 years before being written down. Maybe it was and we just don't have it, but not likely. By 1711, there was the printing press, English was in wide use, and a lot more folk could read and write. It also depends on who first brooked it. If it came out of Scotland ... maybe there is a kindred of some kind to an OE word since Scotland still has a lot of OE words.

I've seen -trum brooked but not in any truly steady way ... even tho it does have meanings as a word and a afterfast, but none of them fit.

That being said ... Maybe you could link it to the verb "to tan" ... as in "tan his hide". After you tan a kid's hide, he's crying and wailing ... a tantrum.

As for doldrums, I think the etym. could be a tad bit off. ... One of the past part. of dullen was "dold". In ME (and even later in) we still had the dative case sometimes popping up ... thus to be in the "dold(s)" would have been doldum. (dat pl). ... Add the "r" for pronunciation and then make that pl again and you have doldrums ... or just as likely in 1811 ... someone may have been playing around and thinking he was latinizing dold by adding the um ... or, as it says, it was played off doldrums.

But likely not akin to teld.

Prepositions at the end of a clause

  • October 10, 2011, 3:58pm

@Brus ... Sometimes you must fight fire with fire. When someone puts out the mindset that latinates are more "elegant" than the anglo/germanic-root word with the same meaning, then that mindset must be stomped on ... hard!

This has been the mindset ever since the Takeover by the Norman-French, it was so in the inkhorn days and still is so now. Nearly 850 years after the Takeover, you have this:

"The every-day vocabulary of the less educated is of Old English, commonly called Anglo-Saxon, origin ..." from the opening of The Romance of Words, 1912, Chapter 1.

So 100 years after that quote, the mindset is still with us when someone says that latinates are "more elegant".

I'd like to hear what you think are the "incredibly important contribution" made by Latin is. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any great "contribution" to the English grammatical framework and far too many Anglo-Saxon words have been shoved aside. As far as "cultural importance" goes, that's another soapbox. I would put forth that it has done more harm than good.

Even tho I know a bit of Latin, I shudder at the thought of making kids learn it at school. However, I'm not gainsaid against it being a choice open to them. The other choice that should be there is Anglo-Saxon. If an English speaker going to pick a dead tongue to learn, then choose Anglo-Saxon!

I'll leave you with this:

"Bad writers, and especially scientific, political, and sociological writers, are nearly always haunted by the notion that Latin or Greek words are grander than Saxon ones, and unnecessary words like expedite, ameliorate, predict, extraneous, deracinated, clandestine, subaqueous, and hundreds of others constantly gain ground from their Anglo-Saxon numbers." George Orwell Politics and the English Language (1946)

Signage

  • October 10, 2011, 3:25pm

@Brus ... You left out that the kiwi bureaucracy has coined the phrase "under urgency".

Farewell as a verb? Hmmmm ... I might be ok with that but the wonted way to make a verb from a noun is with the forefast be- but not always. Then too, we now hear folk talk about "friending" someone on Facebook instead of befriending.

Swari is a Japanese word I remember from Aikido (at least I think that is it ... it's been a long time) but it had nothing to do with an evening party. I have seen swaray for soiree (and swaray is best said with a Southern accent) ... I could see someone using swari if he doesn't know that the "ree" is said as "ray" ... Or maybe he does and is poking fun at it.

Exit IS also a verb. As in exit stage right. A byspel from the OED: The bullet entered her back and exited through her chest.

“Anglish”

  • October 9, 2011, 9:14pm

Now for some more weighty frains ... the word "teld" is in the wordbook as a noun (tent) and verb (to set up camp). It's a weak verb, thus past and ppl are telded. In OE and ME, it was a weak verb as well (teldian)

However, "to cover" in OE was beteldan ... a strong verb. (I've seen betild in ME tho I can't find it now.) The odd thing was that the present tense was betild(), past beteald/betulde(n), ppl betolden.

If I want to ed-quicken this word, then I think it's best to use beteld to keep the kinship with teld ... they share same root. I'm thinking beteld, betold, betolden ... but is that too close to tell, told, told? ... There was an OE verb betellan but it was a weak verb.

Would betold be befuddled with told? So maybe beteld, betild, betolden? Or beteld, betuld, betolden?

Or wimp out and make it weak like teld ... beteld, betelded, betelded?

I covered the table ... I betold the board or I betild the board or I betelded the board? Your druther(s)?

“Anglish”

  • October 9, 2011, 9:10pm

@Jayles ... I'm with you about latinates ... on another thread, I told the guy that that latinates were pompous, pretentious, and arrogant (I brooked latinates so that he would uncloudyly understand).

I should add wimpy. Earlier on a Star Trek Phase II forum, I commented on the video of a Klingon saying to Kirk something like, "If you voluntarily share the information ..." and "I will extricate the information..."

Voluntarily share? Extricate? What a wimpy Klingon ... I suggested: The Mind Sifter will rift your mind and leave you witless. But I will get what I want.

OTOH, Greek-root words often have those consonant clusters and hard sounds ... throne, problem, agony, asf. that I like.

I just came across baksheesh the other day. Don't forget loanwords like purdah (curtain, veil < Persian), klong (canal < Thai), qanat (channel, tunnel < Persian), honcho (Japanese), boonies (from boondocks < Tagalog), lanai (porch < Hawaiian), kayak (Inuit) ... I have a bunch of them! lol ... All of them are in the wordbook.

“Anglish”

  • October 9, 2011, 10:40am

And, we all know, that the day before allhallows is halloween ... :)

“Anglish”

  • October 9, 2011, 12:07am

I was just at the Anglish Wiki ... I think somebody over there must be reading this thread or else Ængelfolc is adding stuff! :)

There are a lot more OE suggestions than on my last visit.

Prepositions at the end of a clause

  • October 8, 2011, 7:12pm

@evath ... This is not an attack on you but on the mindset of what you wrote and what it stands for.

[rant] There is nothing "more elegant" about using Latinates such as "irritated".

Latinates are not more "educated" nor do they sound more well-thought-out. This is a shibboleth by those who think they are better than others ... in other (Latinate) words - the arrogant, pretentious, and pompous. [/rant]

As for Churchill's quote, "to put up with" is a phrasal verb. If you don't like that you're welcomed to use "to thole" or "to dree".

You must translate to one of the Romance tongues since in Germanic tongues the hanging preposition is the wont. For byspel, I can say in German, “Kommst du mit?” … “Are you coming with?” Indeed, a few months ago I did a translation to German that was full of Latinates and it made it somewhat harder on me since I had to translate from Latinates to Anglo-root words and then into German. It helps that some German words such as Gemeinde, Gemeinschaft, and Geselleschaft are also loanwords in English.

English is a Germanic tongue. Trying to slam English into a box with Latin grammar rules doesn’t work. Since the days of Anglo-Saxon "real English" (your words) has had hanging prepositions:

“If music be the food of love, play on ...” William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

“The smallest worm will turn being trodden on.” William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Pt. III

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of.” Ben Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac

Prepositions at the end of a clause

  • October 8, 2011, 7:18am

Then you need to retune your ear. It's a myth that you cannot end sentences or clauses with a preposition.

The "grammarian's grammarian", H.W. Fowler, stated:

Those who lay down the universal principle that final prepositions are “inelegant” are unconsciously trying to deprive the English language of a valuable idiomatic resource, which has been used freely by all our greatest writers except those whose instinct for English idiom has been overpowered by notions of correctness derived from Latin standards.

---

There you go. You're trying to impose Latin rules on a Germanic language and it just doesn't work!

To quote Churchill: This is the kind of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put.

Usage of ‘I have doubt that’

  • October 8, 2011, 6:15am

@princess14 ... I think that "We have to share doubts, suggestions, and activities related to the course." is ok. It's out of context so I don't know if "need" is better than "have to". But as written, it is ok.

What is "clear doubts"? That's sounds oxymoronic ... If it is clear, then how can it be in doubt?

You can say "without a doubt" or "without any doubts" but the gainsay is "with doubts" or "I have doubts".

Questions

What can I do besides... October 8, 2011